Chapter 13: Building and Fortifying
[Unknown location]
A man, known to the students of the academy as the Headmaster, found himself being roughly shoved into a chair. This was followed by ropes coiling around his wrist and ankles until it became impossible to move those extremities.
"What is the meaning of this?! Where am I? Do you have any idea who I am?!" screamed the Headmaster into the darkness. The last thing he remembered was paying his beloved Amayaki-chan for another night of passion. After that, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as he started to fall and unluckily his right eye smacked the door handle. "Once I get out-"
The hit across his face shut him up before he could finish.
"Whoops. Sorry about that. I was supposed to take off the bag but I missed. Silly me!" a female voice announced with a childlike giggle. "Let me turn on the light first so it doesn't happen again."
The Headmaster felt the heat of the lamp on him right before the bag was yanked off his face. This finally let him see that his capture was a woman with the slender yet fit body of a seasoned kunoichi, violet hair styled in a fanned-ponytail. The kunoichi was dressed in an opened tan overcoat that showed her mesh shirt and orange skirt. However, it was the woman's light brown pupil-less eyes that stopped him from salivation at the majesty of female anatomy that was Anko Mitarashi standing over him. Her eyes promised that she was going to have fun and he wasn't.
"Okay! Now that you can see me, I can answer your questions," Anko answered cheerfully. Then she pulled out a folder full of files from her overcoat and started reading "Name is Hiroshi with no last name. Blood type B-. Height is 5'6''. Weight 218lbs. Age 51. Features: brown hair and eyes, medium built and a scar on the right thigh from a kunai stab. Current ninja rank: chunin since the age of 18. Years of service would be 39 next year. Primary elemental nature classified as Fire with a possible secondary affinity to Earth. Marital status divorced. Number of children: 1 who went to live with his mother after your divorce. The child is currently living happily married to his wife and has not contacted you since he turned 18. Your current occupation is that Headmaster of the Ninja Academy which you've had for the last 22 years. Reported completed missions are 290 D-ranks, 237 C-ranks, 100 A-ranks, and 0 S-rank. Have I missed anything?"
"Yes! Where am I and why was I brought here?" Hiroshi asked as he tried to get up. Immediately he felt the ropes around him tighten and hiss at him.
"Now, now girls. No cutting the circulation to his limbs yet. I haven't even started the interrogation," Anko softly reprimanded her snakes. The four black snakes hiss again and somehow managed to look annoyed before letting go slightly. "Now Hiroshi-san, as to where you are that is a simple answer. This is a room in the Torture & Interrogation department. As for why you are here? That also a simple question to answer. See the Hokage managed to acquire, from reputable sources, some very interesting pieces of information about you! More specific information about how you, Hiroshi-san, have deliberately sabotaged our student learning by cutting parts or outright eliminating lessons."
"HA! Is that what this whole thing is about? Please, all I've done is lower the requirements so that more students graduate. My only crime is helping foster and bolster our numbers so that other villages wouldn't think of us as weaklings," Hiroshi proclaimed with pride.
"Really?" Anko asked with a child-like surprise. Then smirked sadistically raised her right leg. Not a second later a very high-pitched yelp filled the room. "Is that what you called not teaching kunoichi about sex? Not teaching them one of their strongest attack and defense is making it easier for them to graduate? Am I hearing that right?" Each question was emphasized with the foot pressing for side to side on its new perch. "What's that? Can't talk right now? Oh, don't worry Hiroshi-san. You and I have ~all~ of the weekend to talk. And I'm a good student. I'll. Hear. Everything. You. Have. To. Say."
Outside of the interrogation room through the one-way mirror, two shinobi were watching the Special-Jonin do her work. Both of them wince in shared male pain at what the woman had just done.
"Damn. Who the hell threw that poor bastard at Anko-senpai?" the first one asked. Before his companion could answer a voice from the back was heard.
"I did," the voice said with barely restrained rage. They jumped slightly and turned to see Inoichi Yamanaka resting against the wall with arms crossed and a glare that was just half a degree short from melting the glass. "That stain of humanity put my little princess in danger and I want to know why." Seeing Inoichi's glare reminded the two responsible for retrieving the Headmaster that the man was a jonin for a reason. Normally the guy was a lovable goof who likes being friends with people just so he could show pictures of his little princess and sing praises about any of her accomplishments. Thus, seeing the man turn deathly serious and almost out for blood caused a bit of whiplash. Thankfully they did their job by bringing Hiroshi to the wolves' den so all they had to do now as stay quiet and let the wolves feast.
Moments later an annoyed and slightly disappointed Ibiki Morino walked into their room.
"Did he break yet?" Ibiki asked Inoichi who scuffed.
"Anko-chan just step on his balls after reading his bio. What about you?" the father inquired back. The questioned commanding officer of T&I sighed as if he had just lost a bet.
"The woman cracked like an egg thrown into a wall the moment I told her my name and where she was. She begged and pled that she would give up everything so long as we didn't harm or execute her to treason. Right now, she's answering everything on videotape and later she will give a written confession," he said with a shake of his head. "To her credit, the only treason she has committed so far was giving that one class. Since prostitution is legal here her crimes just amount to fraud, embezzlement, blackmail, extortion and some others, you know the usual. She also threw our dear Hiroshi over there under the horse carriage. Said it was his idea for her to give the students the talk," Ibiki finished.
"And she did a crap job," the father growled while also blaming himself for not thinking he did need to ask his daughter about her sexuality. 'Dammit. I really should have asked Nori-chan to help with that. At least Benihime-san filled in some of the gaps. And thank the Log that fairy didn't do it literally.'
"Hey," Ibiki called out to the other two jonin in the room. "Where is Chunin Mizuki? The report from Sandaime-sama implicated him in this. So, where is he?"
"His off-limits," Inoichi answered with a smirk. "Naruko Uzumaki called dibs."
"That poor bastard. Even Anko knows how to show restraint."
Said restraint was shown by how gently she moved Hiroshi's head so he could get a better look at some documents. It was too bad for him that gravity decided at the precise moment to from a pool in the area of the papers and his head a pull towards it at high speed.
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Mizuki's Apartment]
"Hey… Are we that bad guy?" a Naruko clone asked her sibling.
"Why do you ask?" the acting leader clone inquired back.
"We lockpicked our way into his home."
"Like any proper ninja should."
"We stole some weapons and money from him."
"Adventures don't steal. They're just very lucky at finding things of value in other people's houses."
"I'm spreading itching powder all-over Mizuki-sensei's underwear."
"Men like to scratch. It's natural!"
"One of us is putting neon puke green hair dye on all of his hair products."
"The man needs some color in his life."
"We change all of his porn for yaoi!"
"That enough private! One more out of you and that's it!"
"No please! I have a wife and daughter back home! I need the money!"
"Good to hear. Now keep spreading that powder. Meanwhile, I need to dump this catfish Charlie on the upper deck of his toilet. Good thing we clones can't smell."
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Unknown location]
Naruko didn't know how long it had passed but for some reason her entire back was wet. However, it wasn't from the crashing waves but more like a puddle of water had formed around her. In confusion, blue eyes opened to see the corridor of a dark sewer with multiple doors. Weirdly enough, even though there was no light source everything was tinted in sickly yellow.
- Where the hell am I? -
"The hell?!" Naruko screamed as she turned around fists up. To her alarm, the source of the echo was not there.
- Why did that sound like me? –
Once more the Uzumaki jumped at the echo of her voice. But she quickly had noticed that the voice was not only an echo of her own but it said what she had thought. Curiously she tested this out with random thoughts or sounds and sure enough, everything was copied and expelled into the sewer she found herself.
- This place is weird. I wonder how I got here? Where is this any? –
Ring
Ring
Ring
- Huh? –
Naruko stared in confusion when the blue window showed the image of a smiling Benihime. Below the picture was a handle that was shaking with each ring. Weirder still, the handle said to slide to the green right to receive and to the red left to end the call. Even with all the games, she played which show really advance technology she had never seen those symbols. Still, she wanted answers so she slid the green handle.
[Hello? Hello? Naruko do you hear me?] Naruko heard and read from the new chat-box that held the static image of her friend.
"Yes. I can hear and read your chat-box, Beni-chan. Where are you and for that manner where am I?"
[You can see and hear the chat-box? Oh, thank the gods you picked up the phone call. I haven't even seen a payphone around the village so I didn't think you could understand how to use the interface of a smartphone. Anyway, now that you've answered, I have good news, great news, bad news, and worse news. Which do you want to hear first?]
"Worse and bad first please," Naruko said already dreading what the information would be.
[Okay worst news is that it turns out that meditating right before you get forcibly expelled from a map is a very bad idea. Somehow it caused your consciousness to be separated from its physical body. The bad news is that once your body exited the dungeon map it closed for the next 24 hours. I had to break all sorts of rules and regulations to hack the map's code into opening up again. It took me like two hours to get through all of the security measures but now we can get 3hrs and 30mins to grind the dungeon. Regretfully this came at the cost of only being able to open it once every 30days.
The good news is that we still had enough clones in this side of reality to form a search party to find your trapped consciousness. Thankfully your astral body was still there at the rocky shore so we managed to put it into an empty bottle and bring it back home. The great news is that your body is in perfect health though once you wake up, you're going to be a little loopy. Kind of like waking up from general anesthesia.]
"Okay, glad I'm not dead. But that still doesn't explain why I'm in a sewer when you just said I'm back home."
[Oh right… that part…]
"Beni-chan? What's wrong? That kind of worries me. Am I in a coma or something?" Naruko questioned with slight distress in her voice.
["Or something" is a good way to describe it. While I was diagnosing your body for any problems, I noticed that your meditation skill changed. I guessing it evolved or morphed due to this experience. Here you should look at it.]
{Skills}
Meditation
Description – An ancient practice used to clear one's self of all unimportant thoughts and distractions. Through this practice of remaining still and emptying one's mind, the person can become one with the world and reach a higher level of focus or consciousness.
Allows the user to enter their mindscape
Allows the user to slowly gather [REDACTED] chakra
If enough [REDACTED] chakra is gathered [REDACTED] mode can be achieved
WARNING! Gathering [REDACTED] chakra without proper training will prove fatal to the user.
"Going by this information… Am I to assume I'm in my mindscape? I don't think I've ever heard that term."
[A mindscape is a metaphysical realm that represents your mind. In simpler terms it's an imagined place that shows you how your mind is based on the experiences you've lived through.]
"So… that means… my mind is a freaking sewer because my life has been shit. Great, I'm sure the therapist will have a field day with this," Naruko grumbled/cursed. The Uzumaki had known for a while that she had problems, being either completely ignored or blamed for everything didn't make for a healthy childhood upbringing, but she didn't think it was this bad.
- A sewer?! Seriously?! That is just beyond depressing. Hell, what does that even mean? That my life is so shitty that I view the world as nothing but a dark, cold, wet, awful smelling and all-around disgusting place? Just how sad is that? -
[You can probably change that. I could hear your thoughts being broadcast as you can. Though I think this can only be done in the central matrix. Let me look for it for a moment…
…
…
…
Oh, no.] Benihime said with terror. Even her static profile picture change to show she was blue with shock.
"Great, let me guess. It's where my worst memories and nightmares are having a tea party?" the Uzumaki asked with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.
[Worst… It's in front of the seal keeping the Kyubi imprisoned,] the fairy said as the map opened before the gamer.
…
…
…
"Fuck."
Really, what else was she supposed to say to that? The key to making her mind at least looks a little healthier as in front of a demon. A demon that was one-third of the reason her life had been so miserable. It was like-
~ New Quest! ~
[(Mandatory) Face your demons for a healthier mind!]
[Description – Today is the day you finally see the face of the demon seal in you. What will happen when you face each other? Only by reaching the demon will you know.]
[Mission: Reach the Kyubi's location]
[Reward #1: Unlocks Mindscape Editor]
[Reward #2: Building Core can be bought in Game Store]
Naruko saw and the quest which made the mindscape become filled with all manner of curses. Yet the whiskered girl knew that no matter what she needed to complete this quest or suffer whatever punishment the system thought of.
- It would probably put me in a coma until I finish or worst it could give the Kyubi free rein to control my body. –
Hence the grumbling jinchuriki started to walk towards her destination. She followed the map as best she could but it soon proved to be a mistake. The reason being that at times it would become distorted and then showed she was an entirely different position. After the third time, this happened out of frustration Naruko summon a piece of paper and a pencil to draw the map so she could follow that instead. Regretfully doing so ended with her facing a door that once she entered Naruko was forced to relive the night she had to sleep cemetery because at least there the dogs wouldn't try to bite her.
"Log dammit!" the blonde cursed as she exited the door and smashed her fist against the wall to her right. She had decided to go in the opposite direction when the wall crumbled and she felt the heat coming from the wall. Considering she was tired of just feeling frustrated and wet feet, she turned to the collapsed wall and found a set of pipes. One was emitting blue energy and the other red. "Hey Beni-chan, are you getting this?"
[No, sorry. All I get is the audio from your end. Any visuals are from the map layout that keeps changing. Sorry to say but this seems to confirm that you are a scatterbrain,] Benihime answered and for the first time in what felt like hours Naruko laughed.
"Okay, I admit that was a good one. But getting back on topic, I am seeing two pipes. One is glowing with blue light and the other with orange-red. If this place is a representation of my mind: would this represent how I see my chakra network?"
[It's a safe bet given the sewer theme. Try using Scan on the red pipe with any luck that one will lead you to the Kyubi.]
"Just how messes up if my life that I want to walk into the den of the mountain size fox capable of destroying a ninja village?" Naruko asked as she scanned the pipe. The moment the skill was activated the Uzumaki could see through the walls and see the direction of the red pipes. With the hope that this would finally lead to the exit out of the maze that was her mind, Naruko followed the red chakra. To her dismay, the walk still took too long but at least she felt like she was progressing towards somewhere while exploring through the twists and turns. Then she turned a corner into the gigantic room that contained cell bars tagged on every surface with seals and chains that all joined at the very center.
[You've reached your destination Naruko-chan. Can you see the Kyubi?] Benihime questioned upon seeing her mistress' location.
"I see the bars and seal holding it together but everything inside the cell is covered in darkness. What I do see is a desk with a chair and one of those new tv-box computers with keyboards on it. It even has a floating red arrow pointing at it. Heh, cheeky," Naruko informed with a small chuckle at seeing the extra obvious goal.
[The thought that a computer terminal from the 1970s is considered new makes an A.I. like me weep,] the fairy deadpanned before going back to business. [Trusting the Yondaime and your mother's abilities in making seal we can say that those bars should hold the tail-beast at bay. Still processed with cation. The quest pretty much said you would meet the Kyubi here.]
Acknowledging the warning Naruko slowly walks towards the terminal while keeping an eye on the darkness beyond the bars. The whiskered girl managed to reach and computer. She took a glance at the prison and waited for something to happen. However, nothing did except for her hearing the beast breathe as it most likely slept. Therefore she took a seat on the chair and looked at the terminal.
[How you wish to start Mindscape Editor tutorial?]
[YES/NO]
~ Mindscape Tutorial ~
[Welcome to the tutorial for editing your mind! As I'm sure you wish to let your imagination run wild this will be brief. For starters with this editor, you can transform your mindscape into anything you wish so long as you have enough Imagination Points or IP for short. Each item, structure or background setting you wish to place on the mind cost a predetermined amount of IP. During the mindscape editing process, you will have access to a shop menu that shows previews of how the items look and the cost of your creations. If you do not like what you placed it can be scrapped and will be refunded for 50% of its cost. IP regenerates naturally by 100 per hour. As a special bonus for Naruko Uzumaki, the IP will be retroactive to her age.]
[Do you wish to reset the mindscape? The first reset will be free!]
[YES/NO]
"As if you had to ask," Naruko commented and accepted the reset. As soon she pressed the button the sewer around her started being eaten by white as chunk after chunk was disintegrated into oblivion. It wasn't long until all that left was her, the computer terminal, the bars, and the Kyubi.
"What the hell are you doing, welp?" the booming voice of the strongest of the nine called out in anger. Understandably the small Uzumaki jumped to her feet and stared up at the massive creature. Seeing as she was just three inches below Hinata, thus making Naruko 4'5'', looking up to a creature that makes mountains into molehills was terrifying. "Hey! I asked you why are you willingly wiping your mind? Is your pathetic life so miserable that you need to do away with what? Five years of memories at best? You, humans, have such short memory it's almost laughable."
- I'm not killing my memories you stupid fox! Oh dammit! I forgot about the echo thoughts! –
"I'm going to stop that right now. I don't want you annoying shrill voice to echo," the Kyubi said and banged the white floor. A wave of red chakra flew through the white void and as the gale winds washed over Naruko could just tell that whatever the fox did work. "Now getting back to the subject at hand. If you aren't throwing away your memories then what-" the demon fox stopped as his enormous red eyes caught something floating above Naruko's head. At first, they thought it was seeing things so they tried to focus harder and the fox did not like what it saw. "Oh no… Not again! I refuse to deal with this bullshit once more!"
And with that one of the strongest creatures in existence turned around to leave into the white void.
"Hey wait a minute!" Naruko called out in surprise and indignation at being ignored like that. "Get back here you stupid fox! I need to have some words with you," the blonde yelled as she ran to the bars.
"I don't give a damn. Come back to me when you're at least something other than a useless Novice," the red challenged as it kept walking until it was a mountain of red fur in the distance.
"I can still see you, you know," the puny Uzumaki called out. In response, the Kyubi snapped its fingers and the whole side of his mindscape became a dense forest with the fox more than likely in its underground den. "Of all the inconsiderate jerks. And what the heck did he mean again? I've never even met him before!"
[Hmm, maybe this Kyubi somehow got the memories of another one that dealt with a Naruto(ko) Uzumaki that possessed the Gamer Soul bloodline limit? The multiverse is all expanding and stranger this can happen.]
"Another Naruto? That sounds like a male version of me. I know I can make shadow clones but are there other "me"s out there?"
[Oh yes, from just one database alone there are 430K+ versions of the being known as Naruto Uzumaki. Of those 3.1K+ are denominated as a female like yourself.]
"That's… a lot," Naruko said in a stupor. "Hey, wait a minute. Why are there more Narutos than Naruko?"
[That's because the original was a male. In other words, yours a gender-flip version of him. You still count as a Naru_ Uzumaki in the grand scheme of things but you're still an individual.]
"Let's… Let's just turned this place into a fantasy forest for now so I can get back. I'm starting to get a headache."
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Naruko's Apartment]
Naruko slowly opened her eyes as her apartment came into view and when she tried to get up she suffered a small case of vertigo. Thankfully it only lasted a few moments as the blonde realized she was on the floor with Benihime sitting by her head.
"Good evening, Naruko-chan. Are you feeling alright?" Benihime asked while giving the girl a once over.
"Besides the slight dizziness, I'm okay. Wait, evening? It's nighttime already?" Naruko questioned back while gently sitting up to look out the window. Sure enough, it was night outside and the stars were shining. "Damn I was out for a while, huh? Too bad I wanted to do another dungeon map today."
"Technically you can do another map today. But it would have to be a speedrun of it," the fairy commented. Then she added "Still, now that we're in a safe zone, why not make the new slime gear? It could prove useful."
Agreeing with the sentiment Naruko summoned her Fun-Size-Forge and looked for the slime gear recipes. Just like the first time the young kunoichi opened that section of the recipe book she grinned in excitement. Then the Uzumaki selected the first weapon to forge and got to work.
{Equipment}
Gooper Scythe [Lv1] |Unique| (Two-Handed)
Description - An easy-to-ooze scythe in a gooey blue hue.
+30ATK
Naruko had to whistle in awe at the weapon she just created. It was just created and already it was five points stronger than her legendary Mandible Blades. The staff was made of a solid metal-colored sky blue that felt cold like a nice fresh cup of water on a hot summer day. The top of the staff was adorned with a silly happy slime smiling at everyone to its front and back. Yet the strangest part of the scythe was its blade which looked like it was made of see-through blue tinted glass with waves at the edge.
"I never thought I would say this but this scythe is really cute," Naruko said with a grin as she marveled her new creation. She stood up and gave it a few swings to get a feel for the new weapon. "Wow, it's even lighter! I've handled broomsticks heavier than this thing. Guess the secret of slime gear is that it's both solid and light. I wonder want the armor will be like considering the metal slime type are usually really strong."
"Actually," Benihime started which stopped the jinchuriki. "Why not use the last five Goometals to make a set of gauntlets? It's true that in a lot of old school videogames you can only equip one set of weapons but this is still real life. Hence you can mix a few things. Like, say take off the Leather Braces around your arms and substituted them for the gauntlets. Plus, you can still use your Thieves Gloves under said gauntlets."
"You think that will work?"
"It's worth a try at least and if it doesn't work you just made another weapon for your arsenal."
The Uzumaki shrugged with a grin as she couldn't pass up the chance of experimenting. Thus, she selected the item and started forging.
{Equipment}
Gooey Gloves [Lv1] |Unique| (Two-handed/Arm Armor)
Description – Gootiful blue gloves with a sweet little slime on the back.
+30ATK
+10DEF
"Heh, you were right Beni-chan. I can wear them as both," Naruko exclaimed in delight as she saw and equipped the new piece. The gauntlets started over her knuckles and end about halfway down her forearm. The metal was the same sky blue as the scythe and it had the white silhouette of a smiling slime at the back of her hand. Once more the metal felt refreshingly cold to the skin without causing any discomfort as time passed. Weirdly enough these gauntlets blocked the whiskered girl from wear her slime watch so even with the jacket on you could see she was wearing them.
Naruko shrugged as it looked cool and looked at her stats. Blue eyes nearly popped out as her attack had reached 83 thanks to the two weapons. The grin on the Uzumaki's face threaten to split it in half and she brought out the Adventuring Atlas to look at the available maps. Out of the five in her possession, she could only enter the Infested Sewer [Lv1 - 5] and Abandoned Village [Lv1 - 15]. Not wanting to risk death, for now, she selected the sewers. However, before Naruko could fully commit a memory played back in her mind. Said memory being of her puking her soul out during the first dungeon she explored. Without a second thought, she opened the store and bought a gas mask; it had an orange lens of course. Now with both the gamer and fairy protected against the stench the map was selected.
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Adventure Map – Infested Sewer (F-Rank)]
(1 hour later)
"You know," Naruko started as she punched a bat into a bloody mist. "I knew this dungeon wouldn't be that tough," she continued while sidestepping a tackle from a rat and kicked it in the ribs as it passed by. The impact sent the creature flying into a wall where it stopped moving as its side had caved in. "But this is just sad." The last rat tried to bite the Uzumaki's neck but due to her higher defense, its teeth couldn't even dent the skin. Naruko easily elbowed it on the throat to make it let go. She then grabbed its head and snapped its neck.
"At least you're practicing your hand to hand combat. That was one of your weaker skills."
"Heh, there is always a bright side," the whiskered girl chuckled as she closed the congratulations window. Ever since they entered this dungeon the materials were all of the common rarity, the rarest thing on the found in a chest were healing herbs or a few bronze whetstones and the monster themselves were no challenge. At least the XP provided by the monsters, meager as it as individually, proved to be a good boon for Naruko and, as Benihime mentioned, her hand to hand combat skills. She even managed to raise that skill by two levels.
Regretfully level 1 only raised her attack is she was unarmed and level 3 only increased her speed if she didn't have armor on. Thankfully level 2 did give her Multi-Fist which let her strike up to ten times with each fist in quick succession. Practicing with this skill Naruko learned four things about it that made it fun to use.
Number one: being able to do a 20-hit combo quickly if she uses both fists.
Number two: it looked like she had six arms moving at the same time.
Number three: the skill could be used for kicking as well.
Number four: she looked like a freaking DBZ character when punching or kicking super fast.
"Hopefully the boss here gives me enough XP to level up," Naruko commented while looking at her UI which said her XP was at 732/880.
"Just remember to keep your guard up. Just because the enemies here were easy doesn't mean the boss will. Then again, your three levels over and have a huge advantage in strength and numbers," Benihime noted as she floated around.
"Trust me, after the beatings I've taken I'm trying to be ready for anything."
With that, the masked Uzumaki entered the final room in the sewer. Upon entering the chamber, she noticed it was a makeshift throne room covered in waste on all sides. Then at the far back was the throne occupied by an extremely fat rat. The monster was at least 10ft tall, covered in scars, blisters, patches of missing hair, areas oozing pus and it was blind. In its deformed clawed-hands, it held a rusted green brass scepter. On its top, it had the head of a rat with its maw open that seem to constantly breathe out a green mist.
Naruko scanned the creature.
Disease Rat King [Lv5] ~ The Ruler of the Sewers ~
HP: 1500
MP: 150
ATK: 025
DEF: 038
SPD: 000
INT: 015
Description – A true rat king while never a benevolent or even fair creature at least it doesn't see its subjects as food. This one, however, has spent too much time inhaling the fumes of its poisonous specter. Careful for while it cannot move due to its grotesque obesity the madness brought about by its rotten brain mean it will not die without a fight.
Techniques: Call for Reinforcement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Poisonous Miasma
"Who's there? *sniff* I smell something. *sniff* I smell *sniff* FOOD! Kill! Most kill food," the rat king yelled while slamming the butt of its scepter. The clang of the rusted metal echoed through the chamber however it was soon drowned out by the screeching of thousands upon thousands of rats. Naruko didn't take a chance and summoned her Gooper Scythe at the ready.
Moments later pipes or walls exploded with rodents of a variety of sizes though none even half the size of the king. Naruko remained calm as the sea of fur and disease ran at her. Still, she did not want to test her defense against that many teeth and therefore Naruko launched her scythe horizontally like a buzz saw. As the weapon parted the sea as the kunoichi created 10 clones. Then the eleven rushed in while punching and kicking at everything in sight. Regretfully the girls were being quickly overwhelmed on the ground so Naruko told them to go for the ceiling.
Out of the group, only the original and four clones managed to stick to the roof. The rat king heard this and screamed in frustration as it threw a temper tantrum on its throne. After catching her scythe, the Uzumaki and her team ran at the monster. However, they had too quickly scatter as the monster vomited at them. The splash damage took out two and the rest were forced to land in the sea of rodents. As soon as Naruko felt the biting of her toes she summoned five more clones.
Given this time the blonde still had her scythe the clones had theirs as well. Everyone then utilized them to unleash their Whirlwind of Doom that easily cut through the attacking rats. Once they had breathing room, they all threw the scythes at the immovable king. The creature heard the blades wheezing towards him and pointed his staff which quickly unleashed a green mist. Seeing this Naruko double jumped back while ordering her clones to cast Force Push on the miasma.
Better than planned the spells created wall that kept the miasma at bay. The scythes also all landed true which already took away half of the monster's health. This news was great Naruko as she decided to end this quickly. After everyone caught their weapons the Uzumaki quickly drank down enough mana potions to restore her to full power and summoned ten more clones. Then with a sadistic grin, they all threw their scythes at the king.
All 16 blades shredded the king into bloody chunks.
[Congratulations! You've won!]
[You've gained 150XP]
[Loot: Random Adventure Map [Lv1 - 10], Rat tail |common| x20, Beast teeth |common| x05, Specter of the Rat King |Rare| [Lv1] and 50 silver coins]
[You've leveled up!]
Naruko Uzumaki [Lv9] ~Trickster Queen~
Job: Novice
XP: 002 / 1,023
HP: 259 + 21 = 280
MP: 1,810 + 75 = 1,885
ATK: 83 + 1 = 84
DEF: 056 + 1 = 057
AGI: 025 + 1 = 026
VIT: 031 + 1 = 032
INT: 033 + 1 = 034
SPR: 293 + 6 = 299
PER: 015 + 1 = 016
Attribute Points: 0000 + 10 = 0010
"Wow, you didn't even need me for that one," Benihime commented thought it did sound prouder than anything else.
"I'll take the compliment and I was right. Beating adventure maps does give me access to more," Naruko said with a grin as she collected the loot and dispelled her clones. Seconds later she felt the violent pull of getting expelled from the dungeon.
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Naruko's Apartment]
The Adventure Atlas which was sitting on a coffee table suddenly started to shine. Moments later a vortex portal erupted out of the book and violently spat out Naruko. The girl, given she was knocked out the first, didn't expect the force with which she was being thrown at. Hence, she couldn't stop herself from becoming a sticker on the ceiling. Seconds later the whiskered girl crashed onto the small table and turned it into splitters.
"Oooooowwww," Naruko moaned as she tried to get up. "Why didn't you warn me about that, Beni-chan?" The question was met with silence. "Beni-chan? Beni-chan?!" the girl asked again while frantically looking for her friend. Then she heard a moan coming to her chest. Looking down the blonde noticed the fairy had been squashed flat like a cartoon. With some worry, she peeled the fairy off and gave her a quick whip in the air. Just like a cartoon, the fairy popped back to her normal form. However, the little redhead was very dizzy. "Are you okay?"
"The world is spinning," the redhead said as she saw stars.
"Guess that's the sigh we should call it a day," the whiskered girl chuckled. "Thought first let me used those AP."
HP: 280 + 10 = 290
AGI: 26 + 4 = 030
VIT: 32 + 3 = 035
INT: 34 + 2 = 036
PER: 16 + 1 = 017
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
(Next day: Sunday)
After doing her morning workout Naruko bought the Building Core which cost a hefty 500 silver coins. Once acquired item turned out to be a glowing see-through green cube with an orb inside of it. The object could fit comfortably on her hand and it was made of the same ethereal material as her screens which meant it could be touched but it had no weight or substance to it. After this Naruko began reading the tutorial. The text explained that the core could only be used on properties she owned the deed to. The only exception was dungeons where it could be used to create settlements or home bases where she could choose to be summoned to instead of the default starting area.
Once activated, much like the Mindscape Editor, the whiskered girl would enter a building mode where she could create, dismantle and arrange the structure to her heart's content. However, unlike the mindscape here she did need genuine materials or money if she wanted to skip the creation process. Thankfully dismantling gave back 100% of the materials used thought one that to pay a fee for that process to. Thankfully this meant Naruko could start breaking down things around the apartment to amass the supplies.
"Wait, I think it would be best to look for advice before I start this," Naruko thought and closed the building mode after repairing her broken coffee table.
"That's a good idea but first you should ask one of the people that know about your powers," Benihime suggested.
"We have a problem with that. I don't know were any of them live," the Uzumaki confessed which the fairy looked at her weirdly.
"But you knew where Mizuki live?"
"I asked Jiji while he was teaching me the Shadow Clone Jutsu. We even shared the same knowing evil grin," Naruko commented with an evil smirk. Benihime chuckled while shaking her head.
"Hey," the Navi started "your Friend List is empty, correct? Why don't you send the players on your list of Recently Played With a Friend Request? Once they accept, you'll be able to tell where they are if you're on the same map."
At this point, the Uzumaki was just accepting the weirdness of her bloodline limit. Hence, she followed the instructions and sent the invites.
[Benihime has accepted your friend request.]
[Hinata Hyuga has accepted your friend request.]
[Ino Yamanaka has accepted your friend request.
[Iruka Umino has accepted your friend request.]
[Hiruzen Sarutobi has accepted your friend request.]
[Kakashi Hatake has accepted your friend request.]
[Kurenai Yuhi has accepted your friend request.]
After getting the notifications Naruko opened her map of Konoha. Sure enough, she could see her friends' positions due to the new marker with their faces.
"Ino-chan is probably at her home. Kurenai-sensei and Hinata-chan are together so they're likely training. Jiji and Iruka are in Hokage Office probably working on the new school program. That just leaves Kakashi-sensei who's in a training ground," the Uzumaki pointed out. With her destination decided she set out to look for the pug loving jonin.
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
[Near Training Ground #3]
Wanting to test out her new agility Naruko took the Ninja Highway (the rooftop hopping) towards Kakashi. The blonde was elated to see she was almost back to her original speed. Still it took some time to reach the jonin.
Once Naruko reached Kakashi she noticed he was standing in front of a stone monument.
"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," the student called out with respect.
The jonin gave a short nod of acknowledgment but for the most part, stayed still. Wondering about the importance of the stone the girls walked towards it. Once closed they could see it was covered with names and it wasn't long before Benihime noticed two names next to each other.
Kushina Uzumaki
Minato Namikaze
"Those… Those are the names of my mother and the Yondaime," Naruko commented while touching the inscription. "This is a monument for those killed and missing in action, isn't it?"
"Yes," Kakashi answer soberly. "For many, this is the only evidence they could leave of their existence in this world."
The man's words resonated around the Uzumaki's mind and it felt like something finally clicked. In this world and their profession, not everyone got their happily ever after. Sometimes, like her mother and the Yondaime, life was ended abruptly and without reason or a proper explanation. Sometimes, no matter how strong you fought or how much you achieve, all you could leave behind as a name on a stone filled with others like yourself.
It was a sobering experience for the young kunoichi hopeful.
"Sensei," the Uzumaki called to the man.
The cyclops turned to see both female holding cleaning supplies and offering some to him. He smiled, grabbed his shared and the three silently cleaned the memorial stone. Once done they summoned some incense to offer a prayer to the fallen allies.
"Thanks for that," Kakashi said. "Not many young ones come here. Anyway, I am guessing you can here to ask for some training, correct?"
"You're partially right. I just came into possession of a tool that lets me build things in my home. Hence, I came to ask if you could provide assistance and advice on what a proper training room would need," Naruko explained and the Hatake shrugged.
"I see no problem in helping. I've been friends with Gai for enough years to pick up more than a few things."
X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~
(Hours later)
(Mid-day)
"Thank you for the help Kakashi-sensei. Between what I have now and the notes you gave I wouldn't have to worry about going to a gym so enough. Thought I'll probably have to farm more scrap and money before that," Naruko said while walking the jonin out.
"No problem. Though I have to say that those reality-bending tools of yours are something else. Not only were you able to destroy things and assemble new objects out of seemingly nothing but you could mold the very walls, wires, and pipes without damaging the building," Kakashi commented with a chuckle. "If you managed to pass my test our team will definitely have to come here to train."
"Thanks, maybe if this ninja thing doesn't work out, I can get into construction," the Uzumaki jokes.
"By the way its phrased," Benihime noted "Is it safe to assume you already know the genin that will be assigned to you, Kakashi-san?"
"Yes and no. A jonin teacher can be allowed to choose either one student or a full team. As I wanted to honor my sensei, I choose you however due to unique circumstances I was assigned Sasuke Uchiha as well. This resulted in my team now having The Genin of the Year and The Dead Last it is assured that I'll also be assigned The Kunoichi of the Year," the Hatake informed with a shrugged. This caused the Uzumaki to sigh in defeat.
"Great that means not only do I get DuckButt on my team but Sakura-chan as well. I feel sorry for betraying Ino-chan but I'll have to help get those two together if I have any hope of surviving working with them."
"What makes you think they wouldn't stab you in the back after they join forces?"
"Sasuke thinks he's the strongest there is and everyone is beneath him. I just have to beat his ass for him to acknowledge me. Sakura on the other hand maybe one of the smartest in class but she's still a simple-minded fangirl a lot of the time. I tell her that I'll help her get together with The Last Uchiha and she's pretty much mine."
"That's… very manipulative of you Naruko-chan," the winged creature spoke with doubt. In response, the whiskered girl just shrugged.
"Probably and even I know it's a stupid idea. But no one ever said I was smart. Anyway, thanks again Kakashi-sensei and I hope you enjoyed the home-made lunch."
"It was edible. And from someone who has to learn to sustain himself with only ration bars it being edible is high praise. By the way, what are your plans for the rest of that day, if I may ask?"
"I'll go to the roof and build a greenhouse to see if I can start cultivating food and alchemy ingredients. After that, I'll watch some anime while a group of my clones reviews the class note Beni-chan took for me and do other tasks like making potions and the like. Shadow clones are really good for multitasking that way."
"Hehe, true but be careful with the memory sharing backlash. Even for you, it could be deadly."
"Don't worry, Jiji made sure to that bit of information was very well memorized by my puny brain. From now on, outside of battle, I'll always make a clone that serves as the memory relay. That way the backlash from multiple memories can be filtered out before it reaches me."
"Nice thinking with that one."
Then with one final good-bye for the day they parted to do their own thing.
A/N:
Sorry its a bit late. I was stuck last week in the hospital taking care of my mother. Don't worry, for now, everything is alright and we're just waiting for the doctors to release her. Also, I liked to thank everyone that has supported this fic since it now has a 156 more followers than my original story Valkyrie's Empire and just 4 fewer favorites. It makes all sorts of happy.
Thanks to this I'll going to say the next chapter is completed and will be posted next week and I'm already working on chapter 15.